The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it.
When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.
Psalm 145:15-17
I am slowly learning the difference between being satisfied by God, which is a deep and lasting satisfaction, and being satisfied with material things such as clothes and food, which are temporary and leave you wanting more. It is a mentality that goes against the ‘American dream’ that you are taught subconsciously from birth–to always strive for more of everything. Food even falls into this category for me. The more sweets I eat, the more I crave. I would fill my body until it was stuffed and still want to eat more. I was like a bear getting ready for hibernation. During this 30 day period, I have been trying to go to God whenever I feel a ‘need’ for something sweet and asking Him to satisfy that craving. I have noticed that it is usually triggered by an emotional response to a stressful situation. God has been giving me the peace I was really seeking instead of trying to find comfort in food. I don’t remember to do it each time but for the times I do, it has made resisting the urges much easier than when I try to do it in my own strength.
This morning, my daughter woke me up bright and early by crawling into bed with me. Although I love snuggles from my 2 yr old, I don’t fully appreciate them at 5:30 in the morning when I’m sound asleep. We managed to get motivated though and had our breakfast special together before sending my son off to school.
After we returned from school, I was able to squeeze in an hour of yoga which left me hungry again, so I made a snack of the last bacon acorn squash patty and some raisins. For lunch I sauteed a sweet potato and paired that with a Trader Joe’s turkey burger on a bed of spinach and avocado.
Lunch tasted so good that I decided to do a repeat for dinner with the exception of swapping out some sauteed zucchini for the avocado and spinach.
I would like to be able to stop here and say that I had a great day eating, but alas I let my body dictate in the evening and threw down a major amount of nuts and raisins. I realized that I had simply exchanged nuts/raisins for my sweets but allowed myself to overindulge just the same. I reaped the consequences all night! I have therefore put myself in timeout for the next 9 days and am not allowed any nuts or raisins! Bad me!!!
21 days done…9 days to go!!